NC man charged with selling drugs that led to Carrboro man’s overdose death
A man has been charged with the fentanyl-related death of a young man in Carrboro last year, police said Friday.
Officers responding to a call about a cardiac arrest on June 27, 2023, found 21-year-old Serguei Ndinga Momo dead in a home on Westbrook Drive, near downtown, according to a news release.
An autopsy found Ndinga Momo had died of a drug overdose. Investigators learned he had bought the drugs from Jerimiah Hargrove, 20, of Selma, the release said. An arrest warrant noted the drug that killed Ndinga Momo was fentanyl.
Police charged Hargrove on Wednesday with death by distribution and selling a Schedule II controlled substance in connection with Ndinga Momo’s death.
Hargrove is being held in the Wayne County jail under $80,000 bail pending his return to Orange County on Monday for a first-appearance hearing in court.
N.C. Department of Correction records show Hargrove started serving 18 months of probation in May for a Johnston County conviction for possession of a Schedule II controlled substance.
Soccer standout and UNC Hospitals employee
Ndinga Momo — known as Dolys to his family — was born in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, and later moved with his family to Honduras, according to his obituary. He also attended the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas, where he “excelled in both American football and soccer,” it said.
In 2021, Ndinga Momo moved to Chapel Hill, where he played recreational soccer with the Orange County Adult Soccer League. He loved the World Cup, cheering for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, and also inspiring his younger brother, the obituary noted.
He also had three sisters and was working at UNC Hospitals at the time of his death, it said.
Carrboro police encouraged anyone who sees a person overdosing on drugs to immediately call 911. The state’s Good Samaritan Law protects a person who is overdosing from prosecution, and also protects people who call to get help for an overdose victim in certain situations.
Carrboro police have carried naloxone, which can reverse most overdose deaths from opioids, since 2014.
This story was originally published September 6, 2024 at 12:58 PM.
